News

Capital Costs for "Free" Schools

We are not the only ones to question the wisdom of investing in the Bolingbroke, rather than in existing schools. According to the BBC the budget set aside by the Government is £50 millions only, out of which will come an estimated £15 million for the Bolingbroke refurbishment. Given that the overall education budget has been frozen, if the Government continues with its drive for "free" schools, other parts of the education budget will have to be cut.

The Department for Education has refused the Freedom of Information request for details of applications to set up a Swedish style "free" school. read more

Local Academy News:Elliott School has been threatened with closure and the rebuild under Building Schools for the Future has been cancelled. Surprise, surprise - they are now being "offered" academy status with ARK as a sponsor and the cost of rebuilding, it is suggested, will be met by selling off part of the grounds for housing development. Who will profit from this? At a time when the Government is encouraging everyone to get involved in sport, surely this is yet another contradiction? The question is: why couldn't the Council do this, if this is the cost effective and sensible way of proceeding? In that way, the education and the housing would be kept under democratic control.The list of schools which have applied and other information can be downloaded at:http://www.education.gov.uk/academies

National News

Around the country staff and parents were shocked to return after the summer holidays to find that their school has converted to academy status over the summer holidays. The argument that academisation gives parents greater choice is clearly a publicity stunt if one meeting at short notice in the last week of the summer term can be defined as "consultation" and a governors meeting held during the summer holiday can be called democracy.